Graphics HD5970 'Fixed all problems with latest official BIOS' (Added latest vBIOS in post #1)

The guide on the first page will help you flash your HD5970. This will save you the hassle of having to change profiles.

Simon.

 

I know the feeling. I was pulling my hair out getting really angry, that I nearly threw the bloody card on the floor. Lol. (Glad I didn't in the end).

I was checking all sorts of forums with fixes etc, but found nothing. So in the end I contacted Sapphire and demanded they give me the latest Bios to try.
Thankfully they did, as at that point, I wasn't going to buy another ATI card ever again.

So after all this, I decided to post all these problems up to help other people in the same boat.

Now go and enjoy your card.

Cheers,

Simon.

 

ADDED LATEST OFFICIAL VBIOS

Please check post #1 for the links to the official (Not Beta) VBIOS for the Sapphire HD5970 OC.

Cheers,

Simon.

 

Hi True_Gamer, i have had issues with my 5970 as well, it's a Powercolor 5970, i sent the original one in, and they sent me the one i have now as a replacement, well, it does the same thing as my last. Nice artifacts in 2D mode, and in 3D mode as well. Can there be hope? I am assuming that i can flash it to a sapphire bios without much trouble? And if i did need to send it in for RMA service, it would be simple as reflashing it back to it's original bios? What exactly happened that the bios flash failed for you?

 

The Asus Vbios I used was dodgy. That's what caused the problem.

You can use the Sapphire Vbios as many others have. But I would recommend having a spare GPU just in case the flash goes wrong and then you won't have the rigmarole that I had of having to bridge the bios chip to reflash. (I'm not saying that this will happen, but take it as a precaution).

You may need to use ATI RBE to change the Vendor to 0x1002.

Also before flashing, I would remove all ATI drivers as stated in post #1.

If you have any problems, then just let me know.

Cheers,

Simon.

 

This is with the latest Vbios V.126

I have change the Vender on the Bios from Sapphire to PowerColor using ATI RBE. So try using this with your PowerColor card.

Clocks adjusted from 735mhz to 725mhz Core/1010mhz to 1000mhz Memory.


Master Bios

PowerColor Master Bios

Slave Bios

PowerColor Slave Bios

Sorry for the Crap upload site.

To flash these files in Dos you need to type the following commands (make sure you type the command as followed including spaces and - marks)


atiflash -p 0 PowerColorMbio.AC1 -f

After that has completed you need to flash the Slave Gpu

atiflash -p 1 PowerColorSbio.AC1 -f

Don't forget to add these files http://www1.sapphiretech.com/global/lib_files/40.zip

 

Nice thread, quick question. How do I check what BIOS version my card is currently using?

 

Use GPU-Z to download your graphic card Bios (Click on the little chip with the little green arrow at the end of Bios version).
Save that file to Desktop, then download ATI RBE and click on load at the bottom of that window.
Find the file you save to desktop and open it in RBE.
Under hardware Specs string: you will see HEMLOCK MASTER XT BIOS UCODEv:126 (If your using a HD5970).

Cheers,

Simon.

 

Right thanks, mine says HEMLOCK MASTER XT BIOS UCODEv:120 so I guess it could do with updating.

 

Have you had any problems with the card so far on that Bios version? If so are you editing profiles to maintain stability? If you are, then I would update it, as the latest version is superb.

 

Yeah a few issues.

You mentioned about a BSOD post flash, did you uninstall the drivers before that came up and driver cleaner was necessary to fix it or did you just do the BIOS update and then realise the drives needed uninstalling first?

 

I did the Bios update and then got the BSOD as I didn't uninstall all the display drivers.
I had to boot into safe mode and wipe every display driver before I could get into windows normally.
So I would uninstall all of the display drivers and then reboot and then use Driver sweeper to clear any left over Registry.

 

Hmm, it is just sat there after I put the command in with a blinking cursor. Wonder how long I should wait before rebooting lol.

Looking at the Sapphire powerpoint they say type flash and it will do it for you but the next step is the commands you listed.

Edit: ah I see the flash is a .bat file which this version doesn't have.

Just rebooted and tried again, same issue, sits there with the cursor blinking. Think I'll try and make the bootable usb stick from a different drive and see how that goes.

 

Ok got lots of errors:

Exiting due to signal SIGSEGV
General Protection Fault at eip=0012e147

and lots of other stuff.

 

Right I sorted it using a different USB flash drive and using the Sapphire provided bootable USB drive software. I think mine was a slightly newer version as it was showing up Windows Millenium instead of 98.

Either way both master and slave are flashed, didn't get a BSOD as I uninstalled the drivers before starting. I took the risk of not using Driver Cleaner, found in the past it did more damage than good, so gladly it wasn't needed.

I just hope the 10.7 cats are better than the 10.6, had to go back to 10.5 to get borderlands to work without freezing every 20 minutes.

Anyways, I'll report back on how the new VBIOS treats me, thanks!

 

Glad you got there in the end. The new vbios is very stable. I can't say I have had any issues or found any at all.
Please leave other peeps feedback on the new vbios.

Cheers,

Simon.

P.S Off to post office now

 

I have recibied the new card and its working fine XD

 

Have you installed the latest Official vbios and not the old Beta one?

Cheers,

Simon.

P.S If anyone would like my overclocked Vbios 950/1200 1.2v core 1.15v Memory (100% stable (On my card anyway)). Let me know and I will post it up.
My overclocked vbios will allow you to use power save, which will drop the clocks down to 157/300mhz 0.95v to 950/1200mhz 1.2v when you enable a 3d application. I would advise using a waterblock with it.

 

Yeah I would mind that BIOS Simon!

I assume it is an edited version of the latest 1.26 BIOS?

 

Yes it is vbios v126.

You will need to uninstall all display drivers before flashing this OC vbios. Overwise you may get a BSOD.
I would not recommend using this vbios if you are not using a watercooling block

overclocked 5970 v126 vbios

(m) for master (s) for slave vbios.

Put these 2 files on your dos enabled usb stick along with ati flash tool.

Now type the following commands

atiflash -p 0 m.ac1 -f

Then after that bios has flashed type;

atiflash -p 1 s.ac1 -f

Now reinstall CCC and check GPUZ to make sure your clocks are running at 950/1200 1.2v VDDC 1.15v VDDCI

You may get a CCC warning saying your display drivers are _______? Just click ok and have fun.

Enjoy!!

Simon.